“A case that gets to the level of harassment, such as this, is very rare,” he said.

Flood has been with the sheriff’s office more than 20 years. This is the first time he’s seen 911 abuse lead to a criminal case, he said.

“It reached a point where we felt we had to take action through the legal system to put an end to this,” he said. “Our attempts to reason with (the man) and resolve it at our level were not productive.”

Each abusive call to 911 dispatchers could be considered an individual count of harassment, Flood said. The man had been warned by police multiple times.

“We want people to understand they can’t abuse the system,” the chief said. “It’s vital.”

The man was arrested July 20. On Wednesday, he remained booked at the Snohomish County Jail. He has some criminal history but no known felonies as an adult.

The Washington State Patrol also has reported problems with the man calling its dispatchers and being abusive, Flood said. Troopers reached out to Snohomish police, who are folding those complaints into the local case.

The man also is being investigated for making false reports to police.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.

911 calls

Don’t call for: information or directory assistance; if you’re bored and want someone to talk to; need to pay traffic tickets; are reporting power and other outages (unless there is danger from downed wires).

If you call: Answer all questions; don’t hang up; follow instructions and try to provide a precise location.

If it’s a misdial, don’t hang up. Tell the dispatcher what happened so he or she will know there isn’t an emergency.